Selling in Europe accelerated throughout the day. The fuel behind the drop appeared to be fear of a global slowdown and the impression that the Bush package to stimulate the economy would be too little, too late.

Watching the big markets in Europe left the impression of a simple and blind panic without a specific trigger. Investors simply wanted out, goaded by concerns that stocks have much further to fall. By the last hour of trading, the lemmings were running in force.

The German DAX was hit hardest, plunging 7.2% to 6,790. Shares in global mega-conglomerate Siemens (NYSE: SI) dropped 8.5%.

In the UK, the FTSE sold off 5.5% to 5,578. But there was real carnage among metal and mining companies. Both Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP) and BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) dropped over 10%, killing over $25 billion in market cap. A recession would probably slow demand for commodities, driving the profits out of these companies. BHP has also talked about taking on tens of billions of dollars in debt to buy RTP. Such talk is not popular in times of tight credit.

The large banks in France, lead by BNP Paribas, fell through recent trading lows.

Hardly a single stock was spared.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Europe sell-off ends badly; German DAX sinks 7.2% originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.